The Crescent Isles were shaping up to be quite the interesting place every time Hylltywyll paid it a visit. First getting into a prank war with some old lady and her kid before hanging out with them for the day, then finding some crazy sea hag (Heh) giving out boat rides that no safety inspector would ever approve of. He wondered what else this region could have in store for him to make his visit an eventful one.

Ghosts, apparently. Or people were saying it was ghosts. There were also a lot of people saying it wasn't ghosts, but some trick that the Crown was behind to mess with the Isles. And there were also people saying it was a different group trying to trick people, the Oniwanban or something like that. Gods, what a mess of a situation.

Hylltywyll was so excited to see it.

Hylltywyll smiled mischievously to himself as he peeked out from the shadows at the mountain town. Having to make his way here on foot was a little annoying, but he'd never been here before so it was a necessity. The town didn't look like anything special right now, but it wasn't completely dark yet. The sky was starting to turn vivid oranges and purples as the sun was setting. It wouldn't be long before he got to see these ghosts for himself, or whatever they were.

But until then, why not take a look around and see if he couldn't find something fun?

---

One With the Shadows

SPOILER: Click to show

Quest Name: Howls of the Past
Participants: Two or more
Location: Crescent Isles
Post Requirements: 5 posts per person, 200 words per post
Reward: Ability to take on Part 2, +1 Renown
Description: The locals of Sunset Pass have started seeing apparitions and believe it to be the souls of deceased inhabitants who used to populate the area. Under order of the Crown and the Council of Travel and Trade, traffic has been diverted from this once populous travel hub, and the remaining locals have all but given up hope. They say that at night they can see shapes moving in the forests and near the old Mines. The Crown believes the Oniwanban are behind the disturbance and are using the mines as a base of operations; however the Oniwanban believe the exact same about the Crown. Grand Chancellor Lao is requesting that someone goes in and unveils whoever is behind these faux hauntings.

Your investigations reveal that neither group is behind the hauntings - rather, members of the Lunar Rebels, a group actively fighting against the crown in Moonglade, are behind the occurrences. It is believed that they are purposefully stirring up conflict between the Oniwanban and the Crown on purpose, as a war between the two only benefits their cause in Moonglade.

Marion arrived at the town with little more than vague description of haunting being told- well, he personally was not particularly afraid of them anyway, and the rumors quipped his interests, so as always- the young elf took a slight detour. But things didn't turn out to be so light-hearted, and Marion, who have always never been one to turn down a plead for help if he could help it- had taken upon himself to investigate what is up with the whole thing about hauntings.

Now that he had gotten quite reliably told that these hauntings are man-made, and was asked to find out the culprit of such a disturbance, Marion could really not quite refuse. It is true that he disliked confrontations, because he is not good at dealing with it, but he also consider it necessary that he'd see an undertaking to it's end- and so here he was, pondering about how to go about it.

As expected the elf had very little knowledge about how to haunt other people- but he can make guesses. Thinking about chemical reactions and magic, Marion had decided to camp out in one of the areas that had the most reputed hauntings. Himself promptly went to sleep, but another pair of large, black, glittery eyes watched the night.

It didn't take that long for Hylltywyll to find something out in the woods, but he wasn't sure he'd call it fun. It wasn't the ghosts or ghost fakers he was expecting. No, just as the sky turned black, he ran into a campsite with some sleeping Elf. There's no way this is the culprit, right? Everything he heard about this town said there were lots of figures in the woods. He could probably do that kind of thing, control a bunch of shadows and mess with a village, but he doubted this person could, especially since they were sleeping right when all the action was supposed to be happening.

He crept around, keeping to the edges of the small campsite and staying within the shadows for his magic to keep him hidden. It was easy now, with the sun down. Practically everything was in shadow at night. It was one of the reasons he tended to have a lot more fun during the night than during the day. It was easier to trick people in the dark, the thing so many people were already so afraid of that hearing a little noise or seeing a shape was enough to send them screaming.

But that didn't only apply to him. Whoever these ghosts were, if they weren't real ghosts, must have been well aware of this. That was why they only came out to haunt the place at night. Their actions were suspicious and Hyll was increasingly sure this was the work of living people, and not dead people, just from the information he had.

As the other approached the campsite, hidden well, there was action starting to happen.

It really is an optimal spot for a haunting- quite really too perfect. The woods while not being at the center at the town, was not far away enough to be out of sight and out of mind- there was old burial mounds that was long grown over with trees and undergrowth, but the story element was there. There were the tiniest flashing of light- like a firefly's blink, and all seemed peaceful.

And then a chill settled in with the night fog rolling in, and, slowly, grass began to wither like being touched by tendrils of death.

It does look quite the show, to a trained eye. Usually hauntings would only need be some weird noises in the night and people are more than eager to fill up the rest with their imagination- but no, this is everything on a theater stage and a half. It is also somewhat clear for whom this performance was for- the unfortunate sun elf that had been trying to investigate the hauntings, of course.

- But since it was subtle, Marion only drew his covers tighter around himself and rolled onto his tummy sub-consciously, still quite fast-asleep, call it fortunate or not that he had missed the opening scenes of this whole haunting.

Hylltywyll watched the show unfold with interest. Fog, withering grass, a slight chill. Ooh, how spooky. They were really selling this ghost show, weren't they? It was too bad Hylltywyll wasn't buying any of it. He was a prankster himself. He'd used all these tricks before. There was no fooling him, or hiding from him.

From his perch on a rock beneath the shadow of a tree, he could see back into the darkness between the trees and spot the figures approaching. Solid figures. These were definitely not real ghosts. He knew coming here that the chances of this whole thing being a trick done by one or two groups of people was likely, but he couldn't help but feel a twinge of disappointment knowing the haunting wasn't real. He liked to see interesting things. Spooky ghosts were interesting. A bunch of people in cloaks and hoods were not.

Oh well, he'd just have to make the best of the situation and have a little fun.

With a flick of his wrist, he held his hand out, palm side up, and a snowball suddenly appeared in his grasp. He tossed it into the air, the snowy sphere catching the moonlight and glittering for a moment before gravity took it and it fall directly toward the sleeping elf's face.

The approaching figures suddenly stopped their slow, dramatic approach in surprise.

---

One with the Shadows
Shadow Sight
Summon: Snowball

Before the snowball reached it's end of the flying arc, something- quite large, swooped down and blocked it with it's own body.

It all happened in a split second, the loud absolutely heinous hiss, the sound of weight as it hit the ground, the flash of gold- in the low light it was abit harder to make out the whole thing, but it is large, insectile, and you know for sure from those iridescently golden wings that it held out reflecting in the moonlight, tail raised above it's head- if one was familiar with insects, this behavior is called flashing and is a common tactic of self defense in- you guessed it- mostly non-harmful insects. Startling a predator would often have good payoff being that the insect will be able to escape in the time they bought and blend in again with the environment, but this one seemed not have the intent to flee. It seemed to be positioning itself in a way that the camp was- well, shielded by it's extended wings.

However, the effect of that snowball would have had in waking the elf up- it was achieved now, with the whole ruckus the insectile creature was putting up. Quickly getting out of bed, Marion grabbed Idun, barefooted, and ran out of his makeshift shelter to stand beside the giant creature, putting a palm against it's side as he looked to where it had been directed this fuss towards.

The ghost actors looked like they hadn't been expecting whatever the hell that was! Some big moth, dragonfly, rainbow creature!? What even was that?

They turned around and ran back, not knowing the intricacies of insect behavior. Whether it was something a normally harmless insect would do or not, they didn't want to face down a giant bug that looked so protective of who they could only assume to be its owner.

None of these people were warriors. Their job here was to pretend to be ghosts and spread rumors that made travel to the town close down. Mysteriously appearing snowballs, giant fluffy insects. They weren't prepared for something like this!

The group rushed off, dropping their slow and creepy act. Twigs snapped and leaves rustled as they hurried through the brush. There was a loud "Oof!" and a thud as someone tripped over a rock and faceplanted in the dirt before they scrambled back to their feet and trailed behind the rest of the group, in the direction of the nearby mine.

Hylltywyll cackled to himself and followed along silently. This group wanted there to be a ghost so bad? Maybe he could play one for them. And that big bug that rushed out to protect the sleeping Elf from his snowball was interesting. He never saw one of those before. Maybe this night would actually be a lot more fun than he though.

Now that they panicked and ran- that made their effort to stay hidden with their disguised mostly futile, and while dragoonflies despite their namesake, are not an effective predator species, but there is value in cultivating a chase instinct.

Now it was moving again, lifting into the air to gain on the fleeing group. Flying is easier and faster than running though the woods, now, and the straggler was hit once more, following that unfortunate trip-up, a glob of honey scented amber that was fired from above. The dragoonfly tried to take one more, aiming ahead and spitting another ball of this amber sap, before deciding it should not leave it's rider behind and turned back.

Marion, on the other hand, produced a rather strange light source from within the campsite, and tied it to his staff that seemed to still have leaves on it. It was a rough sphere of pale blue luminescence, shining brighter now that it was exposed to moonlight- And he had the good sense to go back and put on his shoes as well, before running after Kweh.

This had pretty much gone quite exactly the way Marion had envisioned it to, so himself was quite jolly about it all, if not somewhat nervous about the next part. How do one interrogate a person?

"Ew! AHH! What is this!?" The hooded man shouted as he was left behind by his fleeing comrades. He struggled, trying to get out of the sticky slime that was gluing him to the ground, but it held fast. He tried to tear at it with his hands, but that only accomplished him getting the sticky substance all over them too.

"Wha-" He started to say before looking at his hand and confusion and giving it a sniff. The stuff that bug spit on him, it smelled... sweet? Why is it sweet!? He tentatively gave it a tiny lick with just the tip of his tongue.

"Why is it sweet? Is this honey!? WHY IS IT HONEY!?" He shouted, his voice filled with fear, but now also a tinge of confusion. That thing covered him in honey! From its mouth!

Hylltywyll was cackling with glee as he watched the man struggle, covered in honey, and shouting out in confusion. That bug was more funny than he thought! He never saw something that spat honey. He'd seen bees and knew they made honey, but he never saw this kind of thing. Oh, that'd be a fun prank to pull on someone. Covering them in honey... But would it be as sticky as this honey? Maybe it was some special honey. Maybe he could use sap or glue or something else to stick someone to the ground. His head was full of ideas.

Oh, but the Elf was coming. There was more show to watch.

Hurrying along with the glowing orb dangling from the hook of his staff as a light source- the luminescence not abrasive, but bright enough to let him able to see better- Marion arrived at the scene of the capture, with the moth-like dragoonfly standing over the person- while it does not really have any sort of means to attack, it's size being augmented by it's overall fluffiness could still be somewhat intimidating, if you did not knew what on earth this creature was, anyhow.

"- It is not technically honey. There is a fermentation process in his gut, and it does ferment in enzymes from a high-sugary content, but this substance is also consisted of metabolism wastes with a considerable amount of protein. The unique structure of the protein when forced out of a small opening is able to interlock, being one of the contributing factors of this stickiness. Bees also throw up honey from their mouths, if you didn't know before! They are such fascinating creatures."

Squatting down in front of the hooded man, Marion reached out to remove the fabric that covered his face, and helped wipe his now goo-infused hair from his face as well quite considerately.

"Would you mind telling us all about the hauntings, now, or would you like to learn some more interesting facts- mn, such as the iconic nice smell of sun dried laundry is actually the smell of the corpses of dust mites? You do actually inhale them, since they are so incredibly small."

The man listened, unsure of why he was getting a lecture on the spit of a giant bug from his captor. Did they say "waste"? Was this stuff poop!? BUT HE TASTED IT. OH GODS. The smell of dry laundry? What- dust mites? He didn't need to know that! Oh, he'd never walk his neighbor's house when they have their laundry out to dry the same way again!

"Please, I don't know anything! Just let me go!" The man begged, looking from the Elf to the dragonfly-moth-spitting thing in horror.

"Lying." A quiet, scratchy voice said simply from above.

"What? Who else is there? I'm not lying, I don't know anything about the hauntings. I can't tell you anything!" He shouted, eyes darting around the canopy of tree branches above, trying to spot whoever had said that.

"Lying again." The voice answered back, this time from a slightly different direction than before.

The man continued to look around, more and more panicked, until he locked eyes with something in the dark. From the shadows of the nearby brush, a small, fluffy figure in a hooded poncho walked out and up to the stuck man,

Hylltywll dipped a single finger in the gunk and put it in his mouth, tasting the honey-like stuff. It was alright. It was sweet and did taste kind of like honey, but he'd tasted better. Hylltywyll had enjoyed watching the man's panic for a while. It was funny, but he wanted to see what would come next. Where did all the other hooded people who left him behind go? Who were they? He was curious.

"Tell the truth and I can remove that gunk off you, like this." Hylltywyll offered and gave a small demonstration of his ability. With a wave of his hand, the honey-sap that was soaked into the man's hair and on his face suddenly disintegrated, the goo hardening and flaking off and then crumbling to dust which faded to nothingness in seconds. His head was clean, though the sap on the rest of his body and gluing him to the ground remained. "And I'll know if you're lying."

---

Detect Lies
Spring Cleaning

Marion sighed, and was about to continuing trying to persuade the other person, when a mysterious third voice spoke up- but from what it had said, it didn't seem to be malicious- matter of fact, the owner of said voice quickly emerged and proved himself quite helpful to this whole ordeal, and Marion gave him a smile out of gratitude—— not that he knew what exactly the other is- and nor is that important anyway. The ability to tell lies from truth is something that this often too-trusting person needed quite desperately, despite him not realizing that himself yet.

"Kweh said you guys threw something towards me, something cold but it disappeared very quickly, if that helps you to retrieve your memory?"

He offered.

The man, with his hood and honey goop out of the way, could be clearly seen by the soft light of Marion's staff now- and he looks quite the typical moon elf, with blue-ish lavender skin and white hair- the contrast between the two elves were as their namesakes, Marion's flowing curls golden still even in the pale moonlight. Marion, however, did not seem to be taken aback from kinship or the the thought of the deep history between their races- perhaps he simply did not know, or didn't think it important to the situation at hand. There was visible hatred on the others face, as he spat out.

"- Of course, no one will slander you better than a sun elf! We haven't even started when that- thing- came out of nowhere and tried to kill us all! None of the setup are even in place yet! How-"

Marion only raised his brow at him, nodding to indicate he is listening very intently- and the moon elf realized what he had just let through his teeth, which caused him to quickly shut up.

Hylltywyll turned away and held a hand over his mouth to keep himself from laughing at the mention of something cold. They must have been talking about the snowball that the bug, Kweh apparently, had used its own body to block. Did it think that was some kind of attack? Ha, it was just a ball of harmless snow! Oh well. No need to tell them that, or that it was actually Hylltywyll that threw it in the first place.

The man looked horrified at what information he'd accidentally let slip, in the presence of two individuals who were paying close attention to everything he was saying.

"Ooh, setup? Setup for what?" Hylltywyll asked curiously. Now that was interesting. Was he just talking about the ghost act? Was there more they planned to do to set the stage and make the show spookier? Making it chilly and withering the grass already seemed like enough, in his opinion. Oh, maybe some fog? That would have helped sell it. But, maybe he wasn't just talking about the ghost performance. Maybe there was setup for a bigger plan.

"Where did all those others go, that left you behind? They're not your friends, are they?" Hylltywyll asked, a slight mocking tone in his voice.

The man looked away with a grimace. "No, they're not." He answered with a hint of anger, and Hylltywyll could tell he was being honest. Whether he meant they'd never been his friends or that he no longer considered them his friends after their betrayal, his magic couldn't tell him.

"Oh... that's unfortunate."

Marion put a hand under his chin, and thought abit.

"Do you mean setup like- haunting and things? I remember hearing about the whole blue ghostly fire, stuff like that."
The captured elf's expression changed quite amusingly, but he only huffed and said nothing.

"I think Kweh had seen where the others have ran off towards as well... oh, I really don't know. Should we have gone after them?"
This, Marion asked towards the odd little creature that had popped up into his quest, and to be truthful he is quite thankful of it- which he goes on to express aloud.

"I don't think I've met anyone quite like you before! So I should introduce myself- Marion Aurea, from King's Valley- and it's just so good to have your company here right now."

The younge elf does his little hand-wave as a late greeting with a warm smile- which their captor rolled his eyes made a gagging face at, clearly displeased at... a lot of things actually, but especially towards the sun elf .

"Whatever you fucked up little racoon-cat-goblin is supposed to be, you'd do better not to mix with the wrong company."
That he said to Hylltywyll.
"Backstabbers, liars, all of them. Their glorious capital Sol built off the very bones of our kin. And they still have the fucking gall to act like nothing had ever happened——”

"Backstabbing and lying? You and your not-friends must be very familiar with those." Hylltywyll retorted, cutting him off, giving the captured moon Elf man a look of superiority.

The man looked like he wanted to refute that, but couldn't. He'd just been backstabbed by all his fellow moon Elves and he was caught lying just within the past few minutes. There was nothing he could even say to deny it, as the little creature in front of him clearly had some way of detecting lies.

With the captive silently seething, Hylltywyll turned to Marion. He had no special love for sun Elves. He didn't even have any special hate for moon Elves either, despite one moon Elf causing a rather traumatic experience in his past that made him never want to eat a brownie again. No, he just wanted the guy to shut up after calling him a fucked up raccoon-cat-goblin.

"My name is Hylltywyll." He introduced himself simply, with a smile.

He wasn't worried about associating with this person. If anything, they should be worried about associating with him. Of everyone here, the trickster Fae was probably the wrongest company of all.

He looked back toward the captive, but continued to speak to Marion.

"Hm. he's not very cooperative, is he? Oh well. Maybe the others will play nicer. Just leave him here, covered in that sticky stuff. Maybe a bear will be attracted to the honey smell." He said with a shrug, feigning a defeated look, as if there was nothing else they could do.

The lilac skin of the moon elf grew a bit paler.